Detail of a self-portrait of the German painter, printmaker and writer Albrecht Dürer. Photograph: Alamy
It has been described as âone of the greatest spontaneous prayers in world literatureâ, but Albrecht Dürerâs elegy on the arrest of Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer, may not have been written by the German painter, printmaker and writer after all, research suggests.
Considered one of Dürerâs best-known writings, the Lament on Luther could instead have been the work of a contemporary monk that was slipped into the artistâs diary, possibly for political reasons, according to what the National Gallery describes as âvery convincing evidenceâ.